The country keeps the steady hand Of Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Spring in his step—Carney heads to work in Ottawa on Tuesday: Geoff Robins /afp/Getty Images

The Liberals did not get their majority in Monday’s election, but Canada has much to be happy about. The threat from the U.S. disrupter, Donald Trump, is still very real, and Carney is the best leader to help our country through to the other side of the tariff wars.     
                            
It was a surprise that the Conservative Party finished a very strong second. The election results at press time give the Conservatives 144 seats in the House of Commons with 41.3 percent of the popular vote, as against 169 seats (just three short of a majority) and 43.7 percent for the Liberals.

Two of the biggest stories of the election were that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not win their seats in the House of Commons. Singh promptly resigned as leader; Poilievre is not yet prepared to do the honourable thing.

Poilievre’s emphasis on “affordability” in his campaign definitely helped the Conservatives, but there is no doubt that his angry, “let prisoners come out of jail in a box” political style, cost him the Prime Ministership which he wanted so much he could taste it.

The Conservative Leader no doubt hopes to stay on in his job, and he appears, so far, to have the support of prominent members of his party to do so.

But Poilievre will have to rely on a by-election to re-enter the House when he has none of the levers of office to determine the timing of a partial election or a way to find an easy reward for a colleague prepared to give up his seat to offer Poilievre a pathway. The government can wait up to six months for a by-election to be held.

The unity of the Conservatives fractured over the course of the campaign. Poilievre came under fire from Ontario Premier’s campaign manager for letting his 22-point lead in the polls fritter away. Premier Doug Ford has not spoken out since in defence of Poilievre.

Toronto MP Jamil Tivani, a Poilievre loyalist, known for his friendship with the U.S. Vice-President, J.D. Vance (not a great credential), has been sharply critical of Ford for not supporting Poilievre during the campaign.

Who ever said that Canadian politics is boring?

Having Poilievre in the House would be a headache for Prime Minister Carney, as Poilievre could be counted on to use every trick in the book to block Carney and his Liberal agenda. 

The main reason Carney was able to bring the Liberal Party out of the purgatory of the late Justin Trudeau years was clearly that he successfully portrayed himself as the best person to manage the crisis brought on by Trump and his tariffs.

Since the election, Trump and Carney have talked on the telephone, and Trump has told reporters that Carney is a “fine gentleman.” The two have agreed to meet in Washington over the next two weeks.

Besides Trump and his tariffs, Carney has many other major items on his plate. What follows are just a few:

• A $2 Billion fund to support the Canadian auto industry.
• A major commitment to housing, with homes built at a rate of 500,000 more per year for the next five years, and a new federal housing agency to back and develop affordable housing construction.
• Increased funding toward the two percent NATO target of GDP toward defence spending.
• $150 million more annually for the CBC/Radio Canada.

Carney also has many other demands on his time that were not immediately part of his election platform. For instance, respected New Brunswick economist, David Campbell, a former chief economist for the province, reminds Carney of the long-standing preoccupation of Atlantic Canada with regional economic development. 

Campbell argues in an open letter to the PM that “we are at a critical time in our history. The decisions made by federal and provincial governments in the next few years will either strengthen national cohesion or drive us further apart. This is why…you must keep regional issues on your radar.”

Regional tensions remain in this country with the traditional demands of Quebec and the increasing ones of oil-rich Alberta, where Premier Danielle Smith’s Alberta-First stance has caused friction with her Premier colleagues.

Premier Ford has led a Canada First approach, joined by the Premiers of many of the smaller provinces. New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt has had considerable success in breaking down inter-provincial trade barriers in the Atlantic Region.

The federal election also highlights new political realities in the country. A major contributor to the recovery of Liberal fortunes was the collapse of the NDP vote nationally and of the Bloc Quebecois vote in Quebec. The New Democrats lost their official party status in the House with just seven seats across the country and none in Atlantic Canada where they have long held pockets of support.

The NDP persuaded the Justin Trudeau Liberals to introduce such major social programmes as universal day care, dentalcare and pharmacare. All of these were opposed by Poilievre’s Conservatives. Mark Carney and the Liberals will have difficult challenges ahead to protect and develop these social programmes, although Carney vowed Friday morning to continue their development.
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Yet choices are what governing is all about. Politics in the art of the possible. In Prime Minister Carney, the country has a steady hand on the tiller for the exciting choices ahead.